December 2016 in Review

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."  Merry Christmas!

The month of December was spent preparing our hearts and home for Our Lord's coming!  We are so grateful for the many blessings Our Dear Lord has shown us!  Here is the month in pictures:

Sleep in heavenly peace - Don't let this picture fool you - this little guy has more energy than all his siblings combined and he keeps us on our toes.

We've had so much fun in the snow!

Ready for St. Nicholas day!

Each child had a project and made presents for friends and family.

  Luke made little snow men with Mom & Miriam's help. 

Miriam made beeswax candles for everyone. 

William made sled ornaments. 

Thomas made Hershey bar snowmen.

And John posed for his snow globe ornament. 

A fun Advent game - Candy cane fishing.  

Celebrating St. Lucy's feast day - December 13th.

A Lego creation by William. 

A dear friend stopped by the Holy Family Shrine. 

The kids Second  piano recital - they did a great job!

Luke's first piano recital. since he just started lessons. 

Miriam was able to read for the first time at our Homeschool Mass this month - here's a picture of her practicing before Mass

William was able to serve at the Homeschool Mass. 

Gaudete Sunday! - Rejoice!

On Gaudete Sunday, the children were able to carry our Parish's nativity figures into Mass to be blessed and then outside to the Nativity.

Pictures with St. Nicholas...

We had fun making candy Graham cracker houses.  This may become a family Advent tradition - the kids enjoyed it so much.

We chose and cut down our family Christmas tree on Gaudete Sunday. 

Our Nativity scene, given to us in Green Bay by Mary Graf - all lit up!  We've been thinking of and praying for her all through the Advent and Christmas season!

Making Christmas lanterns at the Library.

Cookie Decorating night!

The children helped Phil out by participating in a "living  Nativity" at his work.  William was St. Joseph, Miriam was Mary, Luke was a shepherd and Thomas and John were sheep.

The kids enjoyed visiting the other parts of the building and got to pose for a picture with Bishop St. Nicholas. :-)  Thomas had switched from sheep to "mischievous elf."

We spend an evening with our adopted grandparents - "Grandpa Jean" and "Grandma Fern" Rainville.

The kids are really enjoying Chess club.  

A fun family picture :-)

The children participated in our parish's Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve. 

Christmas Day Pictures: 

John received his special truck made by Dad this year  - he has made one for each of the kids when they were around 2 years old.

Dad got a new recliner for Christmas and it's already being well used. 

This year we made an Almond Bark Nativity using candy molds. 

We had a blessed Christmas Day and have been enjoying celebrating the 12 days of Christmas in special ways together as a family!

May the love of our dear newborn Savior fill your homes with peace and joy in this Christmas Season!  Our prayers are with you as we enter into Anno Domini 2017!  Please pray for us as well!